What a great breakfast on 18 October with Ash, Felixstowe Town Clerk – full breakfast report

Gold medals, cycling, allotments, toilets and parking were just some of the subjects covered by Felixstowe Town Clerk Ash Tadjrishi in his informative and wide-ranging talk about the powers and structures of the town council at the Chamber’s October Breakfast in the Fludyer’s Hotel.

Mr Tadjrishi told members that the council, which was recently rated Gold, (the highest award level in the national Local Councils Award Scheme) had streamlined its committee structure and now had just four main committees: Planning and Environment, Assets and Services, Civic and Community and Finance and General Purposes, as well as the regular full Town Council meetings. He urged residents to attend council meeting, even if it was only once, to see how the council worked.

He pointed out that although the town council had limited powers and had control over only a few things like allotments, the CCTV system, most of the other services, including business rates and public toilets were handled by Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC).

However, the SCDC had to consult and take notice of the town council’s comments on any issues before taking action, as happened with the Town Council’s request to permit cycling on the Prom (recently allowed) – especially with local development matters such as planning applications and the current Suffolk Coastal Local Plan Review.

As the District Council was also seeking to take over responsibility for on-street parking enforcing it was important that all key stakeholders, such as the Chamber, engage with them on how this might be delivered in innovative, cost effective ways to do this efficiently and in a manner that would encourage people to come and do business here.

Before the Town Clerk spoke, the chairman Roger Abbott welcomed the Chamber’s new business officer, Corrine Franklin, who will take over all the chamber’s admin duties from November, when Krystyna leaves to teach the piano!

He said: “We owe a huge vote of thanks to Krystyna for all her work for the chamber in the past and at the same time I’d like to offer a very big welcome to Corrine, who will play a major role in our efforts to grow in future.”

In a long-winded speech, Roger also said the chamber committee was working with Cycle Felixstowe on plans for a Felixstowe Cycle Challenge in May or June next year. It is hoped this will provide an opportunity for members to play a big part in promoting many different aspects of the town. (More details later.)

“Regarding our application for funding for two projects — one for Start-up business support, and the other for an Information Pack – I am pleased to say the latter bid was successful, with funding of £1,750 from the East Suffolk Business Development Fund.

The info Pack will act as a ‘sales calling card’ for the Chamber, with key contact information, training information, membership listing and other data to help businesses in the Felixstowe area.

We already have some useful editorial from the town council and can I ask members who have access to information they feel could be used in the pack to feed it through to Corinne [info@felixstowechamber.co.uk).

We are still discussing proposals to ‘link to’’ the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and will hopefully be consulting with members on this next month.”